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Knife is here. First impressions were that the heel is sharp; gave myself a little nick getting it out of the saya.

I'm not sure what usage nor maintenance its seen, but this thing is still very sharp, I can get an easy shave off it, if thats your thing, so maybe the previous two can chime in to show what kind of edge retention it has. Feels good in the hand, balance is pretty much perfect for where I'd pinch it. The handle has some very slight ridges in where the end and front caps are, but that would be easily solved if it bothered you. It probably wouldn't, but I'm being critical.

I also think that it would look better if it was fully polished, rather than leaving the top 1/3 with a kinda kurouchi finish, thats purely aesthetic though.

I'll post up a usage review once I've used it.

First day off after 13 days and now I want to go back in just to make a mirepoix to try this out.. and I have 3 days off.. Oh well, to the shop it is.

Knife arrived with a great edge, wasn't heavily polished and had a good amount of bite. I noticed a bit of degradation on the edge after making a big batch of pasta sauce, but a quick touch up on a 5k had the edge right back.

I think i was expecting a little more than the knife delivered, predominantly because of the profile, it wasn't quite long enough and the upswept tip foreshortened it. This is just personal opinion mixed with expectations though, and my expectations were high, perhaps unrealistic.

Compared to my Shigeharu KU nakiri i felt the Shigeharu was slightly in front on cutting ease, though this may have been because i have spent a while refining the edge of the Shigeharu to how i want it, this being a passaround knife i resisted the urge to start playing with the bevels. Tweaking a knife to how i use it usually gets a bit more out of it, and i felt that the passaround nakiri still had some more to give.

Wondering if it was partly familiarity with my own knife, and a lack of board time with the Passaround as well.

The hollows on the blade face reduced the weight noticably and the knife felt nimble in use. Stiction wasn't an issue and no real issue with wedging, only noticed an inkling splitting some larger than normal carrots.

Handled everything i threw at it, but i think i'm just to used to 240 and 270 gyutos as i felt like i was missing some length, a pointy corner at the tip would have been nicer too for tip work, as i felt i didn't ever touch the existing tip to the board due to the curve.

Steel sharpened up really easily. a few swipes on a 1k drew a fine burr that vanished on the 5k. feedback was nice, but i've only experienced a few knives that felt weird on the stones -either super soft stainless or weird powder steels. Was also decently stainless, resisted the urge to wipe it straight away and left it to see what would happen and no signs of any corrosion, makes a change from the carbon i've been using recently that would have gone all kinds of orange with similar treatment.

Retention is better on the PM steels than on the passaround but the ease of sharpening meant it is simple to refresh the edge, i had the feeling that i could have kept the edge going with just a loaded strop, but wanted to see what it was like on the stones, and Rosco asked for a fresh edge.

Handle was comfortable, balanced the blade nicely and the tapered front section (something i don't have on other knives) fitted my hand well. slight ridge between the parts, but very very slight and probably a product of the climate.

@RDM the edge was treetopping when it left me and i included a bit of leather and 1-3 micron honing compound when i posted it out to Rosco

It's taken a while for me to get around to writing anything on here with everything going on at the minute. 1st baby was due 12 days ago and we have just sold our house, but I am here now.
Firstly I would like to thank Will for giving me the chance to try his knife, and preface everything that follows with the fact that I do not have any great experience with kitchen knives. Recently bought a set of Globals, and am using them to learn how to sharpen. I also have a Carbonext and 2 Tojiro Senkou knives. That's it.
Out of the box this knife looks impressive. The combination of woods in the handle works well and I really liked the handle shape. I did notice the slight ridge others have mentioned between the main wooden section and the front ferrule. The join between the main wood block and the end cap was seamless. Beautiful colour. Very symmetrical handle shape. Blade fits snugly into the handle. The rough finish (kuroichi?) on the top section of the blade looks impressive but for everyday use I would prefer a polished finish.
The knife was super sharp and cut everything I threw at it with gusto. From tomatoes to potatoes. I am only a home cook and it was a busy time for me so I only used this knife to prepare about a dozen meals.
I didn't think I would like the Japanese blade style where the blade does not start where the handle ends, but I found that the Machi meant that my pinch grip now meant that less of the butt end of the blade became unusable if that makes sense. I had more useable length on the blade. I liked it. The knife felt a tad short to me but not as much as others might think. 16cm might have been a nice length for me. I also felt that the rounded tip was unnecessary. A squarer tip would have given more usable length to the blade and I would have found a squarer tip useful for dicing onions, taking the pith out of peppers etc.
The height also felt kind of in between to me (although I liked the weight), might have been better for pinch grip users if it was a tad shorter but I am beginning to think that I might prefer to use a pinch grip with straight fingers like you might use wit a cleaver. The Nakiri was almost, but not quite, tall enough for me to try out this grip. The combination of height and straight blade profile made my non cutting hand feel very safe, like I had very little chance of cutting myself with this knife.
It might not sound like it from what I have written above, but I LOVED using this knife. Super sharp. Very little food stiction. Finely diced onions do stick to the flat bevel face and can ride up into the hollow ground section, but on the whole, food doesn't stick. While I don't have much reference for edge retention I will say that the edge did drop off a bit after a week of use but was still plenty sharp for me, and it might be more to do with how sharp the knife was to start with!
I was considering getting a Will to make a knife for me, but now it's only a matter of time I think!

Tom, thanks for the strop and compound but I never actually used it on anything yet. It's boxed away with the rest of my kitchen stuff somewhere. Is it Boron Carbide?

I will say on lip on the ferrule/handle, yes although the woods are stabilized it is a product of environment. Expansion/contraction still happens with stabilized wood and this is part of the handle that most often gets hot/cold. I have used the knife daily for some time before passing it around.
So although the parts were sanded flat, (it would not have been possible to sand a small lip on there) There are still small movements over time. I notice it most regularly with wood/metal. It is most probably a difference in expansion/contraction between materials. There is generally a tiny lip there some weeks after finishing the work. It has never really presented its self as a problem or unsightly, as its so slight.
Cheers
Will